How to Use Past Participles in Italian: A Guide for English Speakers

What Are Past Participles in Italian?

Past participles in Italian are verbs that are used to form compound tenses, such as the passato prossimo. Like in English, they are crucial in creating the present and past perfect tenses. They also function as adjectives at times.

Formation of Past Participles

The formation of past participles in Italian varies depending on whether the verb is regular or irregular. Most regular verbs can easily be transformed into their past participle form.

Regular Verb Endings

For -are verbs, replace -are with -ato. E.g., parlare becomes parlato. For -ere verbs, replace -ere with -uto. E.g., credere becomes creduto. For -ire verbs, replace -ire with -ito. E.g., finire becomes finito.

Using Past Participles with Auxiliaries

Past participles are often used with auxiliary verbs avere (to have) and essere (to be) to form compound tenses. The choice of the auxiliary verb affects the agreement of the past participle.

Auxiliary Selection Rules

In general, transitive verbs use avere, while intransitive verbs, especially those indicating motion or change of state, use essere.

Practical Usage Examples

Consider this sentence: 27Ho mangiato una mela.27 Here, 27mangiato27 is the past participle used with 27avere27. Conversely, in 27Sono andato a scuola,27 the verb 27andato27 agrees in gender and number with the subject I.